How Many Rabbis Does It Take to Install a Cantor?

It was one of the great privileges of my Rabbinate to spend this past Shabbat at Temple Emanu-El in Oak Park, Michigan where our former student Cantor, Darcie Naomi Sharlein, invited me to install her in her new pulpit. After the service, in the receiving line, each of the over 200 congregants and community members present thanked me. I do not think that they were thanking me for my words, nor, necessarily for travelling to Detroit, but rather thanking me (and all the rest of our congregation) for sending them Darcie. (I tried to tell them that she came to us considerably talented and that we hadn't actually packed her up and mailed her to Detroit - that it was her choice to come to them.) However, I am happy to share not only the greetings of Darcie and her family with the congregation, but also the knowledge that our former student Cantor has landed safely in a place where she is loved and appreciated.